EBS R12 , 11i -- Changing output file before printing

In this post, I will mention about a little trick that can be used for customizing the printing process in EBS.

As you may already know, EBS prepares the output and send it to printers using Os tools, such as "lp" in Linux.
So, if we can manipulate the output files before sending it to the printers , we can accomplish customizing the output file before sending it to the printers.
Let's explain this process this by a little explain.
Suppose we want to replace all the 0 (zero characters) with the O ( The letter O) in our printings and suppose we want to do this in all EBS prints.
In this kind of scenario, we have to build a mechanism that is tightly integrated with EBS printing sub system, as we want EBS modify the output files generated by EBS and we want it to be transparent to EBS.

So, the things that need to be done are pretty simple actually.
First, we create a script in the application node of EBS environment, where the printing is done.
The script will include a one liner which will replace the characters in the outpout file and send it to the printer. Note that, its first argument will be the printer name and the second argument will be the output file.

/home/applmgr/erman.script
sed -i 's/0/O/g' $2
lp -d $1 $2

Then , we go to EBS screens and modify the printer definition (to the driver actually) as follows;

Change in Arguments text box: /home/applmgr/erman.script $PROFILES$.PRINTER $PROFILES$.FILENAME

I will not go in details about these arguments and script, as you have found this blog and reading this article with curiosity :) That is, I suppose you can understand the purpose of the script and the changes we have done in the arguments textbox above.

Note that: The arguments may be changed, extra arguments may be added.
So, this is the way, and I hope you like it.